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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
Back in September, a journalism job posted by Gannett Media went viral. The position they were advertising was for someone to report on the "Taylor Swift beat," meaning they're looking for someone whose only job is to report on Taylor Swift and what she's doing. Rumor has it there's a similar position for Beyonce in the works, BTW... Normally, I would find this kind of thing amusing. My wife loves Taylor Swift (I like her music a lot as well, to be fair), and I joked that this would be the perfect job for her because she'd get paid to do what she's already doing, which is religiously watching TikTok, Instagram, etc. looking for the latest updates on where in the world Taylor Swift is at any particular moment, and what she's doing. Surprisingly, though, Gannett actually did hire a Swiftie for this position. Bryan West (who does admittedly have decent journalistic credentials) was chosen for the job, and he's an admitted Swiftie. His audition video very much touted how much of a fan he is, and he says he follows a lot of Taylor news already, including "every outing, every new song, every lyric, every album release, every party." And while I will stipulate that I haven't read the Gannett job posting so I don't have any visibility into what Gannett is actually looking for (they may very well want a fan service column about Taylor Swift's day-to-day), from the perspective of journalistic integrity, this feels like kind of an icky choice. I'm sure West is a lovely person but, to "prove his point" that he can report unbiased news on the singer, he listed three songs of hers that he can't stand. But then quickly says that he sees his job as, "To highlight her global and societal impact because she keeps breaking her own records." And that kind of clearly makes my point... the guy is biased in favor of the topic he's supposed to be writing about. Earlier this year, there was a story about how Taylor Swift's private jet use is off the charts (this was in connection with a story about climate change and how damaging it is to have the super-rich take frivolous private flights that generate massive emissions), and she pushed back saying that she often lends her jet to friends so it's not her taking all these random flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco, or across the country six times a week. And it feels like those stories maybe aren't going to get a lot of attention on West's "Taylor Swift beat" because he's so clearly a massive fan of hers, despite his admitting that he *gasp* doesn't like *gasp* three of the 100+ songs she's recorded over the course of her career.  Maybe I'm blowing this all out of proportion. Maybe Gannett wants West to write fan service. But if that's the case, they shouldn't be advertising the job like it's a serious journalistic position; they should just be open about the fact that it's supposed to be tabloid fodder or entertainment, rather than "reporting." It feels like the media has enough trouble with bias and negative perceptions without hiring a fanboy to report on the object of his obsession, and then calling it objective journalism.  |
Is November 7th really Notary Public Day? I'm always so skeptical of these pseudo-holidays... I am a Notary Public here in California, though, so I guess I should probably say something about it. I've been a notary since about 2011, I think. Each of my commissions has been paid for by my employer so that I can notarize documents for them; and I've taken the opportunity to notarize a bunch of other stuff for people on the side, mostly as a favor to friends and family. Becoming a California notary requires renewing a commission every four years, and to do that you have to pass a test. One of those annoying ones where they can ask you anything about notary law type stuff and you either have to study really intently, or just hope that you get questions you happen to know. I'm a member of the National Notary Association, and they actually offer an all-inclusive training where you bring in everything ahead of time and they help you take your photo, get fingerprinted, fill out your application, take an all-day test prep course, and then actually take the test in the afternoon right after you've had an all-day cram session. I could technically get away with renewing my commission by just taking the test, but notary law can be pretty specific so I find it helpful to brush up on everything by devoting one day every four years to cramming for it and getting it all done at once. Being a notary isn't exactly glamorous work, but it's nice to be able to help friends and family with that (everyone needs some form or document or other notarized sooner or later), and it's actually been a great opportunity to get to know higher-ups at my company too. At the various places I've worked, my actual day-to-day work doesn't always involve interfacing with the heads of the studio... but the heads of the studio are often the ones who need something notarized, even if it's personal in nature. Family trust documents, passport applications for their kids, real estate documents or litigation or contracts that require proof of execution... so it's been a great way to get "face time" with the heads of the companies I've worked for. One of the things that's fun about being a notary to VIPs is to see the kinds of things rich and important people need done. The thing I notarize most often for "normal" people are things like government forms and applications, maybe the occasional real estate document or something along those lines, etc. For the "important" people, I've notarized all kinds of crazy stuff like private aircraft lease documents, registering a new "flag of convenience" for someone's yacht, high-profile divorce settlements, wage garnishment orders from a court, etc. I always find it interesting what kind of shenanigans rich people get up to.  Fun fact about notaries, though... did you know they can administer oaths of office? And did you know that there are no restrictions on what kinds of offices I can administer an oath for? If the President of the United States needed to be sworn into office on Inauguration Day and no Supreme Court justice or federal judge were available and I happened to be walking through the National Mall and someone was like, "Is there anyone here who can administer the oath of office to our new president?" ... I could do that!  Well, not technically since that would be in Washington, D.C. and I only have jurisdiction and authority in California ... but still. |
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